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Why Jeb Got ‘Trumped’ and You Could Too

If you haven’t heard yet Jeb Bush’s website was Trumped recently. How? If you typed in jebbush.com hoping to learn a little more about the candidate it redirected to Trump’s site. Now I am not here to push for any candidate hopeful, but there was definitely impact made by this move (and some humor).

If you are on top of your political news, this may be old news as it happened a few months back. We should note that the Trump campaign denies that they are responsible for the redirect, but fact is it does not matter. What matters is that the redirection/hi-jack/loss is costing Jeb enormously.

The financial impact of losing control of digital property is substantial and the opportunity cost can be huge. Seeing this put us to thinking about how often we see companies lose control of an asset and generally for small over sought reasons.

As a person, I bet you have a pretty good idea of your assets: such as your bank accounts, your credit cards, investments, mortgage info, etc. When you get your statements how much time do you take to review them? For most of us, a few minutes is all it takes to get a pulse on our finances.

But this hijacking example leads to the question: How well do you know your digital assets? What are they? Where they are? Who has ultimate control? When they expire? What happens if you lose control? Even for a day or two?

If you lose control of digital property how much is lost? What would that do to you? How would it impact you?

Most business owners have some sort of IT guy. This person knows how to update a computer, help guide you on what server to order and other IT related tasks. But how well do they do manage assets? (Hint: Most are not very good at documenting what they do – let alone understanding the business part). Chances are your digital assets are not being protected appropriately, given the risk factors.

Would you allow your financial advisor to never share with you a detailed accounting of your investments? You would go NUTS! You would move your funds elsewhere as soon as you could.

So, when was the last time you saw your digital property security statement? How much time did you spend reviewing it?

Point is, this was yet another example of how easily your assets can be put into jeopardy. You might think you are not a targeted victim because you’re not a celebrity, but on the flip side – wouldn’t we assume someone in Jeb’s position has put a proper IT security task force in place too? In truth, all of us are targets.

Do not just blindly trust an IT support person! You need to see the status on a regular basis, as unexciting as that sounds – If you don’t get a regular pulse on it, it will someday cost you.

How? Start building a detailed list of digital assets – For example:

What are they?

When do they expire?

What is the contact information? (verified?)

How are they protected?

When was it last verified? (confirmed? Documented?)

Who is responsible for it?

What are the credentials to access/control?

Who has access? Etc…

These items are critical to your success. Don’t go through unnecessary cost and pain to learn Jeb’s hard lesson.

Good luck and get those digital resources under control.

Dan Adams,

CEO, NENS

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